Prussian Officers

I've been looking at my Prussian genes lately, I keep hoping I will find some connection to Johann Hahnke, the missing Prussian officer. One of the sites I like to check periodically is The Posen Project.

Genes that Fit

Sometimes, it seems that trying to find an illusive ancestor is as difficult as trying to pour oneself into a pair of favorite jeans that are way too tight.  But, what a sense of accomplishment when you can finally fit into those "genes", and place that ancestor into one of the empty the pockets of your genetic family .

My quest for my heritage began after I retired from teaching, and found I had time to pursue interests other than caring for my family, my career and my home. My sister, Beth, had begun the search for our ancestors prior to the days of internet, and so had done a lot of research the hard way. She had been able to locate ancestors on the German and Scotch sides of our family by traveling and knocking on doors to find original documentation.  However, oonce she married, began her own family and started her business, she found little time to pursue the family genes.  Luckily for me, she shared what she had learned, and ever since then, I have been trying to fit more pieces of the genetic puzzle into our family tree.

Having been a history major, genealogy seemed to be a natural fit with my interests.  And having been  a library media teacher in my previous life and teaching others how to use technology effectively, I knew all the tools available on the world wide web that would be helpful.  I have been working for nearly 13 years on the branches of, on not only my family, but my husband's family as well.  And my discoveries have filled many of the empty pockets of those "genes"!

It has been adventure with many surprising results. In many ways, it seems to define who we are today. There are so many traits that seemed to have been passed on to succeeding generations that have led to success, and possibly failures, of those who follow. My hope is that all of this research leads to some understanding to successive generations of why we are who we are. And perhaps, we can all learn what has led to so many success stories in our families, and maybe, what can be done to avoid some of the failures of the past generations. (and there are only a few of those!)